I am sure you are all aware of the jokes circulating about French Bureaucracy. I can't say that I have had to face it but I have noticed that for anything that you want to do, an enormous amount of paperwork is involved. This morning I went to open a second bank account and I felt as if I was single handedly responsible for the deforestation of a small tropical country. I now have over 50 papers, most of which I will never read with complex terms and conditions, I'm just hoping that I haven't signed my life away or committed myself to donating a vital organ. After the 5th document I just started signing blindly, mainly because I couldn't be bothered to read the legal jargon in french.
At this point you might be asking yourselves why I needed a second bank account? The answer is simple, the second bank account that I opened allowed me to get 1euro lodging insurance (something I have to have for my residence). Otherwise I would have ended up paying 49 euros for the year. Given that the most valuable thing in my room is my 4 year old laptop I'm not particularly worried about the deductible or getting my stuff stolen. Also, I don't see many thieves trekking up the small mountain and breaking through my deadbolt.
As a result I now have a bank accounts at 2 competing banks, LCL and BNP Paribas if either of those names mean anything to you. Each one offered different advantages to students so I'd like to believe that I am getting the best of both banking worlds. Hopefully that will help me with the guilt of the massive paper consumption required for what I feel is a fairly standard procedure.
I am also insuranced in more ways then I feel are necessary. I have 2 kinds of civil liability insurance, 2 kinds of insurance protecting my passport and at least 4 different medical insurance providers plus 1 lodging insurance. I can only hope that I will not need them all.
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